Punctuation inside or outside quotations?

Not exactly. The situation is not so simple. In British English styles, punctuation is placed where it logically belongs, which could be inside or outside quotation marks.

If a complete sentence in quotes comes at the end of a larger sentence, the final stop should be inside the inverted commas. However, what you quoted is not a complete sentence (it does not start with a capital letter) so your example 1 is correctly punctuated.

Full sentence quoted:

The answer was, “You can't wash your hands in a buffalo.”

Part sentence quoted:

The phrase to use is, "fast and furious".

"If a complete sentence in quotes comes at the end of a larger sentence, the final stop should be inside the inverted commas"

Could you please give me an example?

Please see my latest reply above.

So, let me give you another example just to make sure.

Here is a passage from Bauer (1983):

It makes more sense to talk of single and double stressed compounds than of compounds as opposed to noun + noun syntactic phrases.

Then, if I want to quote the whole text, I should do it like this?

1) Accordin to Bauer (1983: 109), "it makes more sense to talk of single and double stressed compounds than of compounds as opposed to noun + noun syntactic phrases."

If I do not quote the whole sentence, I should do it like this?

2) Accordin to Bauer (1983: 109), it seems more reasonable "to talk of single and double stressed compounds than of compounds as opposed to noun + noun syntactic phrases".

The answer to both questions is 'yes', however:

a. The word 'according' has a final 'g'. It is an error to omit this.

b. In your example 1, you should start the quoted sentence, as you should start all sentences, with a capital letter.

It was just a slip, thank you for your correction.

So even though I start a sentence with a phrase "According to AuthorX", I should still use capital letters?

The quoted sentence, starting "It is", terminates a larger sentence starting "According to Bauer". Both are sentences, and both must therefore start with capital letters.

According to Hosepipe (1988:109), "Children should be taught that playing with matches is dangerous."

Thank you very much for your valuable comments.

That's the job for ellipses.

The phrase to use is, "fast and furious...."

I would like to ask you just one more question.

Here is a whole paragraph from Bauer (1983: 109):

I have tried to argue above that none of the possible criteria give a reliable distinction betwen two types of construction. The implication is that any distinction drawn on the basis of just one of these criteria is simply a random division of noun + noun constructions, not a strongly motivated borderline between syntax and the lexicon.


And then If I want to quote the part starting from "none of the possible...", should I put the full stop inside or outside the quotation mark at the end?

1) According to Bauer (1983: 109), "none of the possible criteria give a reliable distinction betwen two types of construction. The implication is that any distinction drawn on the basis of just one of these criteria is simply a random division of noun + noun constructions, not a strongly motivated borderline between syntax and the lexicon".

2) According to Bauer (1983: 109), "none of the possible criteria give a reliable distinction betwen two types of construction. The implication is that any distinction drawn on the basis of just one of these criteria is simply a random division of noun + noun constructions, not a strongly motivated borderline between syntax and the lexicon."

I would have done better not to write 'part sentence'. I should have written "non- sentence", since I intended it to stand by itself, and not be seen as an extract from a longer fragment or sentence.

Consider whether you are quoting a complete sentence of the original author's text, or part of a sentence. If you have properly read the answers already given you will know the correct answer.

In fact, here I want to quote part of the first sentence and a complete second sentence. So generally I will not quote the whole text and I should put the full stop outside the quotation?

use 2)
According to Bauer (1983: 109), "none of the possible criteria give a reliable distinction betwen two types of construction. The implication is that any distinction drawn on the basis of just one of these criteria is simply a random division of noun + noun constructions, not a strongly motivated borderline between syntax and the lexicon."

So what is the rule in this case?

I know that if I quote part of a sentence, I put the full stop outside the quotation. If I quote the whole sentence, I put the full stop inside the quotation.

How should I understand the use of full stop in this case? I do not quote "the whole text" I guess.

According to Bauer (1983: 109), "none of the possible criteria give a reliable distinction betwen two types of construction. The implication is that any distinction drawn on the basis of just one of these criteria is simply a random division of noun + noun constructions, not a strongly motivated borderline between syntax and the lexicon."

In British style, if your quotation is, as in your latest example, part of a first sentence, then the complete second sentence, then the full stop punctuation ending the second sentence is placed inside the quotation marks and also acts as the final punctuation for the whole larger sentence.

Thank you very much. You really helped me a lot. Thank you.

(1998: [page, item, essay no., March' , etc ??] 78):

puts it, "...none of

[no one] gives

between two


Incidentally 093, how does (1) differ from (2)

Wha, who, me